Bracket for car-doors



Patented Aug. 1, 1916.

Lor'

F. MATHEWS.

BRACKET FOR CAR DOORS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. Iz, fsm.

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@T Afllm@ PATENT FRED MATHEWS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T CLINTON C. MURPHY, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BRACKET FOR CAR-DOORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug.. il, i916.

Application filed April 17, 1916. VSerial No. 91,604.

To all whom t may concern Re it known that I, Fiano MA'rHnws, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Brackets for Car- Doors, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.V

My invention relates to supporting brackets for car-doors, and particularly to braekets employing an anti-friction wheel upon which the car door travels back and forth.

The object of my invention is to so construct a bracket of this kind that the bracket itself can be utilized to crowd the door in toward the side, and thus dispense with use of other devices now employed for that purj pose.

A further object of my invention is to accomplish this result without interfering with the anti-friction wheel journaled in the bracket. vThis I accomplish by the means hereinafter fully described, and as particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings: Figure l is a side view of my improved bracket showing the door and the supporting structure of the ear, to which it is applied, in section. -F ig. 2 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section taken on dotted line 33, Fig. l.

My invention, in so far as disclosed by the drawings, is confined to a bracket which has a supporting-plate A, which is suitably attached to the car structure by bolts or rivets that pass through one leg of a metal post B and the web of the channel-beam side-sill C of a freight car below'the projected door-frame D of the doorway of the same, and to a sliding door E closing said doorway.

The supporting-plate A has an outwardly projecting member consisting, preferably, of two corresponding parallel arms a, a, the outer ends of which merge into and support an open box-shaped frame the front-wall b and the rear wall c of which are disposed in vertical planes parallel with the side of the car and have their ends suitably connected by end-walls d, d. This box-frame is open at the top and bottom, and the walls thereof project higher than and their upper edges terminate above the upper edges of arms a, a. A suitable spindle e connects the front and rear walls about midway their lengths, and a wheel G is journaled in this spindle the diameter of which is such that the uppermost segment of its periphery projects above the upper edges of the wall o-f the box-frame. The rear-wall c of the box-frame is separated froml the adjacent side of the car a distance slightly exceeding the projection of door-frame D of the same, and the surface of said wall next the car is curved from end to end, preferably, to conform to the segment of a circle struck from a point in front of front-wall o intersected by the vertical plane of the axis of spindle e. Instead of the rear surface of rear-wall c being curved, as just described, it may be beveled in opposite directions from the center of length thereof. As this would be the evident equivalent of curving said surface, I wish to be understood as considering such change as coming within the scope of my invention.

lIhe lower edge of door E has a metal shoe F secured thereto, which, preferably, consists of a Z-bar that has comparatively long legs or flanges, and its web is secured to the lower edge of the door in such manner that its upper iange f overlaps the lower margin of the outer surface of the door and its lower flange g projects downward in a vertical longitudinal plane adjacent to but slightly outside of the inner side of the door.

When the door is properly mounted to slide back and forth to open or close the doorway of the car, the advanced end of the lower iiange g of shoe F will, as the door moves toward its closed position, come in contact with the eammed or segmentally curved end of the rear surface of the rear wall of the box frame, and as said door continues to advance, this engagement will cause the door to move laterally toward and tightly close the doorway. If desired, the

cammed surface of the rear wall of the boxframe can` be extended by building out the ends thereof to provide vertical ribs h, h, which will not only permit such extension to be made, but will strengthen the ends of said box-frame and provide bufling elements that will prevent injury to said frame.

W hat I claim as new is l. A car, a bracket comprising .a supporting-plate attached thereto and a suitable member projecting therefrom, a box supported on the outer end of said member and projecting above the same, and a wheel jour- 1 ber and a wheel .'ournaled in said box in combination with a. sliding door and a shoe secured to the lower edge of the same having a downwardly projecting flange that is adapted to engage the rear curved surface of said box. V

8. A car, a bracket comprising a supporting-plate attached thereto, a suitable member projecting therefrom, a box comprising an outer and an inner longitudinally disposed wall the side of which latter nearest the side of the car is curved and projects above said member, and a wheel the axis of which is journaled in said walls and the uppermost segment of the periphery of which projects above the upper edges of the same, in combination with a sliding door and a Z-bar the web of which is secured to `the lower edge of said door and the lower flange of which projects downward and is adapted to engage the curved surface of the rear wall of said box.

4. A car, a bracket comprising a supporting-plate attached thereto and a suitable member projecting therefrom, a box supported on the outer end of said member and projecting above the same and having the ends thereof provided with buffers, and a wheel journaled within said box, in combination with a sliding doei' and a metal shoe secured to the lower edge of said door having a downwardly projecting liange that is adapted to engage the rear surface of the wall of said box nearest the side of the car. In witness whereof l have hereunto set my hand this 3rd day of April, 1916.

FRED MATHEWS. Witnesses E. PAYsoN SMITH, FRED C. CAMERON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each,- by addressing; the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

